Sorry, but this really is a settled issue and the fact that the NRA keeps lying to its members about what the 2nd Am. means does not make it a real issue. At some point when one's opponents continue to refuse to listen to reason, derision becomes the only real response. And this may not play well in Texas, but it will in Rhode Island.
I've explained this in detail numerous times before, so here's the Reader's Digest explanation:
"A well-regulated militia..." Pretty much what it sounds like, a non-professional military operating under some legal authority and discipline. "...being necessary for the security of a free State,...." States are free and need to have an armed defense to stay that way. "the people's..." In 18th c. parlance this meant the general public, or more likely, the English-speaking, Anglo-Saxon, non-servile, Protestant (except in MD), land-owning parts of it. "...right..." Whatever right existed at Common Law. Notice that it does not create any rights, but merely preserves the one that already exists. "...to keep and bear..." It means what you think it means, but don't forget, it is the "people's" right and for the purpose of state security, so it does not necessarily mean the right to keep a gun in a private house. "...arms..." If we are following the original intention of the Framers, then this is a muzzle-loading, flintlock shooting either round shot or a shotgun load. Again, the 2nd Am. preserves rights as they existed in 1789, not as they exist or might exist today. Finally, after all those qualifiers, we get the "shall not be infringed" language, which begs the question, "by whom?" In 1789, it meant the Federal government, since it is part of the Federal Constitution. The 14th Am. arguably extends that to state authority. So why did the 1st Congress feel it necessary to include this in the BOR? The answer could not be more obvious. There was no national army or navy to speak of, so the individual states needed their own defense against foreign invaders, insurrection, slave revolts, or Indian uprisings. The 2nd Am. guarantees that the national government will not deprive the states the means to do so. Since we have a Federal Army, and a reserve, and a national guard, the 2nd Am. is really just a historic anachronism like the 3rd Am. or the provision in the 7th Am. that allows Federal jury trials in cases worth more than $20. It is similar to the Constitutional power of Congress to issue letters of marque and reprisal (government-sponsored piracy). It has no purpose today.
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